


"Do you hate me?"

by Intern_Seraph



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Implied Body Horror, Implied Trahearne/Commander, Post-HoT, Prompt Fill, Trahearne Lives (Guild Wars), Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27633176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intern_Seraph/pseuds/Intern_Seraph
Summary: Commander Fina returns to the Grove to demand answers from the Pale Mother.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	"Do you hate me?"

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from [this list!](https://intern-seraph.tumblr.com/post/629240621610221568)  
> [Also on my Tumblr!](https://intern-seraph.tumblr.com/post/635239584859553792)

Fina stares up at the floor of the Omphalos Chamber above, wringing her hands. It’s stupid, she knows. Stupid and selfish of her to want to do this. Her throat bobs, and she has to take in a slow, steady breath to calm her racing mind. She shouldn’t do this, but she thinks about leaving Trahearne alone at home, how his warm gold eyes drift down to the gnarled, bone-dry bark of his left arm and the stump of his left leg and the way they dim. That light, something she’s cherished since the day they met, and the way it fades.

She steps into the pod elevator and watches the ground below disappear.

The Wardens greet her with deep bows, the Menders with reverent smiles. She tries not to recoil from it all.  _ Unworthy, unworthy, unworthy. _ The Avatar of the Tree kneels at her usual spot, tired eyes drifting up to meet Fina’s as she sits down in front of her.

“My child, it’s been some time since we last spoke,” the Pale Tree says, her eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Mother,” Fina greets. It feels like her throat is closing up. She smiles, but it’s shaky and unsure. “May we speak in private?”

“Of course.” The Avatar looks up at her attendants and nods. Though clearly reluctant, the other people in the Omphalos Chamber soon clear out. Alone now, the Avatar allows her smile to fall. “I can feel your distress, dear child. Tell me, what’s wrong?”

“Why?” Fina whispers. Her hands tremble in her lap. “Why did you never tell us?”

“What do you—”

“Don’t act like you don’t know!” Fina shouts, springing to her feet. Her eyes prickle with tears and she swipes furiously at them. “Why did you never tell us about Mordremoth?  _ Why did you lie to me about my Wyld Hunt?” _

“Love,” the Pale Tree replies. Her voice echoes around the chamber, and Fina swears it reverberates in her bones. “I did it out of love. My dear, you know what would happen if people knew sooner, you know—”

“That we would be massacred in the streets? That the Grove would be razed? Of course I know! What do you think happened when word got out, hah? I saw soldiers murdered in the trees for nothing, I returned to vigilantes trying to _execute_ _my people in broad daylight!”_ The Avatar does nothing, says nothing. Her round, sad eyes pierce through Fina’s chest. Softer, Fina says, “You didn’t trust me, did you?”

“I did, but…”

“But what? Caution be damned, you’d think that you’d at least tell the truth to the one whose Wyld Hunt  _ specifically _ targets Mordremoth, no?” Her throat constricts. She wills herself not to cry. “Your caution killed hundreds of soldiers. Your _ caution _ killed Eir. Your  _ damn caution _ nearly killed Trahearne. Yo-your caution… it’s turning me into a monster.” She sticks her thumb under her lip and lifts it. Stark white and dagger-sharp are two sets of fangs among her teeth. She holds the position for a moment, enough to let the Pale Tree take in the sight, before letting her lip drop back down. She wraps her arms around herself, her fingers brushing against the base of the stunted wings attempting to sprout from her back. “I nearly killed Trahearne, Mother, but I saved him. I saved him, and now I can feel what’s left of Mordremoth’s magic in me… pulsing through my body…  _ changing _ me. I was never meant to hold this kind of magic, this… this  _ power. _ Do you know what it’s like, Mother? Do you know what it’s like to look in the mirror every morning, praying that you still look  _ normal?” _

“This… this was never meant to happen.”

“And yet it did.” Fina grimaces at the hardness in her own voice, the bitter twinge in her chest. Her lip trembles. She curses herself for it, for her weakness.

“Do you hate me?”

It’s not an apology, far from one. Still, the sorrow in her Mother’s words, in the crease of her brow and the plea that lifts the end of her question, gives Fina a spark of relief, of satisfaction. Perhaps it’s cruel of her, in a way.

“That’s the problem,” she says in response. She pulls her knees up to her chest and stares at the ground between the both of them. “I don’t know.”


End file.
